


but you remind me that it's such a wonderful thing to love

by thereisasong18



Series: it's a fine romance but it's left me so undone [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Rise of Kyoshi, Avatar: The Shadow of Kyoshi
Genre: F/F, Gen, Happy Ending, Post canon, i just love them so much, something like this actually happened for realsies, top atla ship right here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27579161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thereisasong18/pseuds/thereisasong18
Summary: Kyoshi and Rangi are reunited in the Spirit World.
Relationships: Kyoshi/Rangi (Avatar)
Series: it's a fine romance but it's left me so undone [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2003971
Comments: 15
Kudos: 79





	but you remind me that it's such a wonderful thing to love

**Author's Note:**

> Continuation of the it's a fine romance but it's left me so undone series. Because I promised. Hopefully this makes up for some of the angst :) 
> 
> Beta'd by hegaveallhecouldgiveher over on Tumblr. 
> 
> Title from Patricia by Florence and the Machine.

It was warm when Kyoshi woke. She kept her eyes shut, imagining that the warmth she felt was from her Firebender, but she knew better. This warmth was just a pale imitation of what she shared with Rangi. She had been to the Spirit World several times during her time as Avatar, and it usually presented itself as sunny and warm. It would have been too much to hope for to see Rangi there too. It was so very rare for even the most spiritual of humans to pass on into the Spirit World, much less Rangi, who had always been wary of the world beyond her human boundaries.

She opened her eyes. Predictably, her surroundings looked harmless, even beautiful. Kyoshi knew the dangers that lay below the surface, though. She had dealt with a few spirits in her time. Although she was the Avatar and held a role here, the Spirit World had always frightened her, even though she’d never shown it. She also wasn’t very spiritual, all things considered.

She stretched, loosening her muscles. If her memory served true, Avatars were able to create dwellings here, to carve out a second life among the spirits. One last gift to the bridge between worlds. She huffed. Hopefully the next Avatars would lead interesting lives, and give her something to do. Living among the spirits might appeal to gurus, but not to her. Her time would be best spent watching over the next Avatars. She stepped off the slight hill upon which she had awoken. There were mountains in the distance. Where better to go than to a large chunk of her native element? Fear gripped her suddenly. Could she still bend? She quickly dropped into a horse stance and in quick succession sent a boulder violently across the ground, a jet of water shooting into the sky, and a gust of wind directly upward, unable to bring herself to complete the cycle and bend fire. Relief washed over her. Death was bad enough, but living in a world with no bending would have been even worse.

It took her the better part of an hour to see the mountains standing visibly closer. Distances were difficult to gauge here, even though she didn’t seem to be tired. One nice thing about being in a world filled with spiritual energy was just that – the energy she could tap into as an Avatar seemed boundless here. No wonder her past lives had been able to grant her access to power beyond anything she could have done on her own. She wondered why she hadn’t seen anyone else yet. Not even so much as a puff spirit had made an appearance. She continued on, closer and closer to the mountains. Finally, she heard voices, and switched directions a bit. As she drew closer, the sounds became more distinct. There were two, one male, and one – she slowed. One female. One female who sounded so painfully familiar. 

Kyoshi’s heart dropped into her stomach and stayed there. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t. And yet, it sounded so like her Firebender, so like her girl. She shook her head. A spirit was playing with her, the new blood in the Spirit World. The audacity of a spirit to trick her in such a way was infuriating. She rounded the boulder, intent on giving it a piece of her mind and possibly a piece of stone shoved in a place it didn’t belong – and stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Against all hope, against all reason, Rangi was here. She stumbled back against the boulder, sinking to the ground, her legs giving way beneath her. Somehow, some way, Rangi had made it to the Spirit World. She was right there, right in front of her, moving, breathing, and currently in the middle of fighting a pitched battle with a wolf spirit.

Kyoshi couldn’t move or even speak. Her chest ached with a dull throbbing pain. It had been only been a year since she had last seen her Firebender, but even that year without her center had devastated her. In fact, it had killed her. To see her here now, in a place Kyoshi hadn’t even allowed herself to hope she could be was like she had been handed riches beyond her wildest measure. She watched from the ground as Rangi blasted fire at the spirit, evading its teeth and claws, full of the vigor and strength that had escaped her the last time Kyoshi had seen her. She couldn’t understand why Rangi was fighting a spirit, however. At least, she couldn’t until Rangi yelled, “You deserve that and more for insulting her!” She whipped a rope of fire over the spirit’s back.

The spirit howled in pain. “Spiteful human! You’re only here because she couldn’t protect you. She was weak, and now she’s dead too. Maybe now we can have a proper Avatar again!”

Rangi scowled, and as Kyoshi watched, she concentrated her fire into a white hot torrent she directed at the spirit. “Get away from here! She’ll arrive soon, and a thankless spirit who has no idea what she went through in order to get here has no business being anywhere near us when she does. Get out!” The force behind her words and fire seemed to tame the spirit, and it turned tail and ran, bounding away over the meadows until he was out of sight. Rangi stared after him, shaking her head. She turned away – and locked eyes with Kyoshi, still powerless on the ground.

Rangi’s face broke into one of the biggest grins Kyoshi had ever seen. She launched herself at the bigger woman, burying her face in Kyoshi’s robes, knocking her right back to the ground and landing on top of her. Before Kyoshi could do or say anything, Rangi flipped herself upright and kissed her. Warmth, proper warmth, exploded inside Kyoshi. She lost every iota of control she had, lost herself inside the inner flame of her Firebender, reduced to nothing but ash in the force of Rangi’s love. It felt like an eternity had been compressed into that one moment. Kyoshi poured every bit of the emotions she’d been dealing with since Rangi had left her into that kiss.

Finally, Kyoshi ran out of air, and they broke away. Kyoshi didn’t let Rangi get far, resting her forehead against the Firebender’s as she lifted her hands to Rangi’s face. “I…don’t understand. How are you here? You’re really here? Not a spirit trying to play a trick on me?”

Rangi laughed, Kyoshi’s favorite sound, one that she had gone too long without hearing. She covered Kyoshi’s hands in hers, lacing her fingers in between Kyoshi’s, tracing them over her scars. “Of course I am, you big oaf. I promised, didn’t I? To always give you a hard time for the rest of our lives? Just because I died on the physical world doesn’t mean I got out of that commitment. For better or for worse.”

Kyoshi felt tears slowly escape her eyes, trickling down her face. “I never allowed myself to imagine it would be possible. I still don’t understand, Rangi. _How?_ ”

Rangi lowered herself to the ground, dragging Kyoshi down with her. She nestled in against Kyoshi’s chest, just as they did so many times in the physical world. Only here, in the Spirit World, Kyoshi felt more alive than she ever had before. She couldn’t believe her glowing girl was here, with her, and that she was whole again. She drew Rangi in closer, the warmth from her girl melting all the icy barriers she had placed around her heart since the day she lost her. Rangi spoke. “I felt myself drop, you know. My body, that is. My consciousness stayed standing, if that makes sense. I watched you. It hurt so badly, Kyoshi. I couldn’t reach out, I couldn’t help you. But something inside you reached out to me instead. Your Avatar spirit.” She smiled up at Kyoshi. “You were never really in tune with your spiritual side as much as you could have been. But your Avatar spirit was always watching over you, and by extension, watching over me.”

This was the first Kyoshi had heard of the Avatar spirit being anything other than a connection to her past lives. “What are you talking about?”

“The spirit inside you is named Raava, the light spirit, who existed inside all the Avatars before you, and will exist in all the Avatars after you. She appeared to me when I was in the inbetween, watching you carry my body away. She made this possible, Kyoshi. Told me that the bond I shared with you was strong enough to transcend lifetimes- and that if I wanted, I could make it a reality. Stay on in the Spirit World, able to wait for you. Able to stay with you. Forever.” She looked down. “If you wanted.”

Kyoshi could barely comprehend what she was hearing. Her entire life she had known Rangi was her center, the person who meant more to her than the entire world. She had lived that awful, awful year without what made her whole. Without who made her whole. She had lived one year without Rangi, and she never wanted to exist another day without her. Now, she’d been given an opportunity she had never believed she could have, but had still been so desperate for: the chance to have Rangi by her side forever, just as it was always meant to be. “If I wanted? If? Rangi…you know how much you mean to me. Those days without you…I just couldn’t do it. I wasn’t me without you there. I don’t know what I did to deserve this, to deserve you. I’ll never know. But I never ever want to spend another minute without you there right with me. My glowing girl. My life, my love.”

Rangi smiled up at her, any trace of doubt instantly wiped away by Kyoshi’s words. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. I spent a year without you too – having to watch you go through what you did. I couldn’t comfort you. I never want to see you in pain again, Kyoshi. Now that you’re here, I won’t ever have to. We’ll be together, forever.” She poked Kyoshi in the side. “We also get to mentor the next Avatar together. He is from my nation, after all. Have you seen him yet? His name is Roku. The sages haven’t figured it out yet, but they will soon.”

Kyoshi laughed. “I got a vague look at him when I meditated here. He doesn’t look very Avatarish yet. We have a good long while until we get called into action to teach him a proper horse stance.” She got to her feet, pulling Rangi up with her. “Remember all those times you made me stay in one? He has to go through the same torture.”

Rangi smirked. “Well, it wasn’t all torture.”

“Not for you!” Kyoshi’s heart had never been so full, more so than she could have possibly dreamed. In the physical world, she had always carried the fear and weight of losing Rangi. Now, in the Spirit World, she no longer had to carry that weight. Rangi was here, and she would never have to live another day without her again. She enveloped Rangi in her arms, pressing against the smaller girl, reveling in the inner heat she was able to share again. She gently kissed Rangi on the crown of her head, avoiding the pins from the topknot the Firebender had chosen to keep. She pulled back slightly, enough to see Rangi’s face. Her glowing girl stared back up at her, eyes full of love. “This is everything I always wanted. You’re my home, Rangi.”

Rangi smiled, reaching up to touch Kyoshi’s face. “You’re my home, too. And now we have forever and ever to spend with each other. You can rest now, Kyoshi. We’re okay.” She grabbed Kyoshi’s hand, bounding forward and dragging the taller girl along with her. “Now come on! We’ve got a whole Spirit World to explore!”

Kyoshi ran with her glowing girl, towards the mountains and away from any situation ever spent without Rangi again. Spending forever and ever with her Firebender seemed like exactly the thing to do. She was really, truly home. She was whole again, and always would be. For the rest of their existence.


End file.
